First Nessie SightingContrary to popular belief, it was in the River Ness and not Loch Ness where in the year 580 St Columba drove away a water monster which had attacked and killed a local man. When told about the attack, the Saint asked one of his followers to swim across the river to fetch a boat on the opposite bank. As the creature surfaced to eat its latest victim, St Columba made the sign of the cross and the creature fled.